It's been a while...but I've now seen PART IV and have watched the 11-minute preview of PART V. This show has shifted beyond the scope of just being a Char origin story. (Not surprising given its source material, but I somehow thought the transition might be more graceful.) PART IV reminded me a little of OVA 4 of Unicorn, where things really started to speed up and jump around. I kind of think this Origin has become Amuro's story now, as scenes related to him are now suddenly better developed and more engaging than what we're seeing with Char.

The early going of PART IV was great and interesting with the whole Lalah intrigue and creative action and world-building surrounding that. But after that, including the 11-minute preview of PART V, it felt more garbled and functional--like cut scenes from a video game--and only found consistency with Amuro and his father and friends. Char is almost just doing cameos now, which is a shame. For instance, why does he have the "red" motif? Was that explained? Will it be explained? That was a sudden jump. They explained the mask, and we know he has some special privileges because of Dozle and Garma, but why the obsession with red and how did he convince the higher-ups that should be his thing? Also, I would have liked to see some sort of setup of Lalah and the early rumblings of the Flanagan Institute regarding Newtypes, perhaps. Maybe that's yet to come.

Anyway, the sequence with the Moon buggy was a neat idea, but the execution felt messy by the end. The mobile suit stuff was weird for a number of reasons. The retcons about the development of the Federation suits somehow feels a little strange to me, and the CG animation, while not terrible, felt sort of mundane in execution and stuck out more in terms of shot composition. (Also, shouldn't there be some kind of core fighter-type ships, as seen in PART I, rather than those skiff-looking gunships?) I can see that these flashbacks were never really intended to stand on their own like this. The stuff with Kycilia, while intriguing in theory, felt tacked on and underdeveloped; the worst part about it was that it continued a new merciless personality for the character that feels less dynamic. Maybe I have to assume she softened during the months to come. Right now, she seems to be a 0083 Cima Garahau clone more than herself.

I don't feel like I got enough detail on Minovsky particles from the man himself before he went, considering they're so important to UC.

Frau's relationship with Amuro was one of my favorite things here, as it spells it out better for me where they're coming from with their families and school life, and the fact that he goes through some Gundam docs before getting in the cockpit is a nice development.

I'll be interested to see how Ramba continues to develop. It's been more piecemeal as of late, but as a whole, it is painting a useful picture.

Some of the comedic elements and visuals still seem a little overdone at times, but I can deal with it.

The CG of PART V looks to be continuing a leveling-off trend, it seems, from what I saw. The opening sequence and use of CG from PART I was more interesting, I feel. And on that note...I'm concerned about this extending into the 0079 material from the TV series. Despite herculean efforts, and a still fairly enjoyable product, I can sort of sense a fatigue in the work creeping in. While "0079 revisited" might be interesting and useful for marketing model kits and other older UC stories, I'm not sure how such a project would turn out. It might end up being six of one, half a dozen of another. But for now, that's all I have to say on the matter. The Origin is still enjoyable, and reminds one of days when there were bigger anime productions, but it's fading a bit compared to its earlier entries.

What might've been just an animation oversight back in 1979 became a full-fledged reference. Wow.

My theory is that it's either another civilian freighter converted for civilian purposes (like how the Musai-class is basically an Arcana-type transport with cannons attached to it), and/or is a predecessor to the Dolos (which I need to remind you that, In The Origin, is a kilometers-long fortress).

It's been a while...but I've now seen PART IV and have watched the 11-minute preview of PART V. This show has shifted beyond the scope of just being a Char origin story. (Not surprising given its source material, but I somehow thought the transition might be more graceful.) PART IV reminded me a little of OVA 4 of Unicorn, where things really started to speed up and jump around. I kind of think this Origin has become Amuro's story now, as scenes related to him are now suddenly better developed and more engaging than what we're seeing with Char.

The early going of PART IV was great and interesting with the whole Lalah intrigue and creative action and world-building surrounding that. But after that, including the 11-minute preview of PART V, it felt more garbled and functional--like cut scenes from a video game--and only found consistency with Amuro and his father and friends. Char is almost just doing cameos now, which is a shame. For instance, why does he have the "red" motif? Was that explained? Will it be explained? That was a sudden jump. They explained the mask, and we know he has some special privileges because of Dozle and Garma, but why the obsession with red and how did he convince the higher-ups that should be his thing? Also, I would have liked to see some sort of setup of Lalah and the early rumblings of the Flanagan Institute regarding Newtypes, perhaps. Maybe that's yet to come.

Anyway, the sequence with the Moon buggy was a neat idea, but the execution felt messy by the end. The mobile suit stuff was weird for a number of reasons. The retcons about the development of the Federation suits somehow feels a little strange to me, and the CG animation, while not terrible, felt sort of mundane in execution and stuck out more in terms of shot composition. (Also, shouldn't there be some kind of core fighter-type ships, as seen in PART I, rather than those skiff-looking gunships?) I can see that these flashbacks were never really intended to stand on their own like this. The stuff with Kycilia, while intriguing in theory, felt tacked on and underdeveloped; the worst part about it was that it continued a new merciless personality for the character that feels less dynamic. Maybe I have to assume she softened during the months to come. Right now, she seems to be a 0083 Cima Garahau clone more than herself.

I don't feel like I got enough detail on Minovsky particles from the man himself before he went, considering they're so important to UC.

Frau's relationship with Amuro was one of my favorite things here, as it spells it out better for me where they're coming from with their families and school life, and the fact that he goes through some Gundam docs before getting in the cockpit is a nice development.

I'll be interested to see how Ramba continues to develop. It's been more piecemeal as of late, but as a whole, it is painting a useful picture.

Some of the comedic elements and visuals still seem a little overdone at times, but I can deal with it.

The CG of PART V looks to be continuing a leveling-off trend, it seems, from what I saw. The opening sequence and use of CG from PART I was more interesting, I feel. And on that note...I'm concerned about this extending into the 0079 material from the TV series. Despite herculean efforts, and a still fairly enjoyable product, I can sort of sense a fatigue in the work creeping in. While "0079 revisited" might be interesting and useful for marketing model kits and other older UC stories, I'm not sure how such a project would turn out. It might end up being six of one, half a dozen of another. But for now, that's all I have to say on the matter. The Origin is still enjoyable, and reminds one of days when there were bigger anime productions, but it's fading a bit compared to its earlier entries.

All good points. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the total deconstruction of Kycillia's character into a ruthless python of a woman.

As for the reference to Char's colors... I'm thinking it was a stylistic choice taken from episode III, where he sees the sunset after taking over the military garrison. He mentions that it looked pretty. Overall, I don't think painting his suit is too terrible a concession, though his uniform is another matter entirely. The explanation that suits me best is that he's been slated to act as a moral booster and MS division poster-boy.

Then again, I know there's some blonde woman in Zeon who acts as an aide to Ghiren, in Apocalypse 0079, if I'm not mistaken who like Char possesses a crimson uniform. So maybe the red suit alone isn't strictly a Char thing?

Then again, I know there's some blonde woman in Zeon who acts as an aide to Ghiren, in Apocalypse 0079, if I'm not mistaken who like Char possesses a crimson uniform. So maybe the red suit alone isn't strictly a Char thing?

You mean Cecilia Irene? That isn't really like Char's. It is more of a Burgundy or a darker Red then Char's Uniform.

Hmm, so that's who she's supposed to be? I was referencing the one from the CGI stuff, but this works. It's still different from the standard uniforms others are wearing. Then again, isn't Ramba Ral wearing blue? So I guess aces get special colored uniforms?

...Overall, I don't think painting his suit is too terrible a concession, though his uniform is another matter entirely. The explanation that suits me best is that he's been slated to act as a moral booster and MS division poster-boy.

Then again, I know there's some blonde woman in Zeon who acts as an aide to Ghiren, in Apocalypse 0079, if I'm not mistaken who like Char possesses a crimson uniform. So maybe the red suit alone isn't strictly a Char thing? ...

Hmm, so that's who she's supposed to be? I was referencing the one from the CGI stuff, but this works. It's still different from the standard uniforms others are wearing. Then again, isn't Ramba Ral wearing blue? So I guess aces get special colored uniforms?

You put forward a somewhat plausible explanation. The bottom line may be that certain regional units or special commandos get exclusive uniforms, and the One Year War just doesn't show us enough breadth to see them all in context. Or perhaps some like Ramba have blue because of their involvement with the original MS tests and they just kept around an older style of uniform that has since been retired or made ceremonial? Otherwise, it's just a case, understandably so, of animators coming up with things on-the-fly for the sake of visual excitement.

...But in the case of Char and his "red," I don't really "like" any of the explanations when there's room to include something concrete. The reason being, this is supposed to be, in large part, the origin of his vengeance, and one would think the origins of his "Red Comet" persona would be pretty important. Yes, we see the "speed" and yes we see the whole mask-donning, but the color's important, too. The way the story has gone, firstly, I can only see Garma making this happen. Dozle wasn't happy at all with giving Char a spot on the mobile suit pilot ledger, and Ramba and the Black Tri-Stars seemed iffy about Char and his red motif during the Moon op. Garma was made the star of the Dawn Rebellion, while Char was made the scapegoat. I guess it all inspired the red color and Garma gave it the go-ahead, but I just would have liked to see something on camera, especially since the uniform business is even more confusing. One last note: Late in Origin IV, the way Char was handled, it was like he was already the greatest ace and not even a person--that he's already a legend. But that doesn't happen until at least Loum, as I understand it. So, I found that to be quite a shift away from the development that was being carefully built prior to this episode.

It's also worth noting, and I just realized it, that Red is the color of Loyalty in Chinese (and other eastern cultures probably), a fact probably not lost on savvy Tomino-sama. So literally he's wearing "red" as "my color!", while donning the mask and giving everyone that creepy smile, like there's some kind of joke going on.

That, and let's not forget the Red Barron, and it seems that the original explanation for Char was that he was just the "modern" or MS version of that venerable pilot, because he was the best and got that reputation from Loum. So it could be he just likes the color red (as we see him using it and wearing it everywhere he gets the chance) and then after his epic debut (ignoring the Moon fiasco) in the One Year War, the world knew him as the "Red Comet", describing him for what he literally was, a red flash of destruction.

That explains the motiff and MS color scheme. No clue yet on the uniform issue, though that might be just a rule of cool factor, or simply some special issue the specifics of which we just aren't made aware of cuz they aren't important.

Was it Kycilia, Ghiren, or Degwin that kept the pretense of peace between Zeon and the Federation for a few more year after the death of Deikun?

And what if Jimba Ral had succeeded Deikun instead of Degwin as the new leader of Zeon? Would there be an immediate war with the Federation, in addition to another civil war between the Ral and the Zabi factions?

Thirdly, why did Zeon chose the German aesthetic? I mean I could understand the need for cultural hegemony and solidarity and all, but why the WWI and WWII look specifically? I do not think the Zeon are descendants of the German immigrants, and why they did eventually becomes a society modeled after the German Empire, the changes in fashion, architecture, etc happened before the death of Deikun.

One last thing about the jumps in Origin IV. I thought it was strange how Char went from a scapegoat-exile to suddenly being allowed to return to space with Lalah without any sort of trouble. (Seemingly on his own authority, too.) I would have thought he couldn't return to space until he was summoned due to his circumstances. I guess the brewing war gave him an excuse, but that all sort of seemed dull. Especially when paired with the fact that he goes from that scene to the "I'm-an-ace" caricature.

It's also worth noting, and I just realized it, that Red is the color of Loyalty in Chinese (and other eastern cultures probably), a fact probably not lost on savvy Tomino-sama. So literally he's wearing "red" as "my color!", while donning the mask and giving everyone that creepy smile, like there's some kind of joke going on.

That, and let's not forget the Red Barron, and it seems that the original explanation for Char was that he was just the "modern" or MS version of that venerable pilot, because he was the best and got that reputation from Loum. So it could be he just likes the color red (as we see him using it and wearing it everywhere he gets the chance) and then after his epic debut (ignoring the Moon fiasco) in the One Year War, the world knew him as the "Red Comet", describing him for what he literally was, a red flash of destruction.

That explains the motiff and MS color scheme. No clue yet on the uniform issue, though that might be just a rule of cool factor, or simply some special issue the specifics of which we just aren't made aware of cuz they aren't important.

Good catches. Ah, Red Baron, I let that slip my mind somehow. Missed opportunity or not, I guess I'll just accept it all as unspoken and move on.

Was it Kycilia, Ghiren, or Degwin that kept the pretense of peace between Zeon and the Federation for a few more year after the death of Deikun?

And what if Jimba Ral had succeeded Deikun instead of Degwin as the new leader of Zeon? Would there be an immediate war with the Federation, in addition to another civil war between the Ral and the Zabi factions?

Thirdly, why did Zeon chose the German aesthetic? I mean I could understand the need for cultural hegemony and solidarity and all, but why the WWI and WWII look specifically? I do not think the Zeon are descendants of the German immigrants, and why they did eventually becomes a society modeled after the German Empire, the changes in fashion, architecture, etc happened before the death of Deikun.

I think Degwin was the one keeping up appearances, while the others did the dirty work. Recall his reactions of frustration after the Dawn Rebellion.

I don't know that Jimba would have gone to war immediately, though he certainly would have been challenged by the Zabis.

As for the German aesthetic, this goes back to my question about why Char wears red. Ultimately, it's just a convenient motif chosen by the creators that's easy for viewers to absorb. If you're creating a futuristic world war, it's natural to pull from what you know and replay things out metaphorically. Japan had an alliance with Germany during WWII, and admired and borrowed from aspects of Germany when modernizing many years before then, so that general aesthetic was especially known to them. In the Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy, I believe Ghiren or Degwin makes reference to WWII Germany late in the story, and before all this they obviously felt oppressed by the decisions of the Federation--much like Germany felt cheated by the world powers following World War I--so perhaps, in-world, they purposefully sought out this aesthetic to fuel their eventual rebellion.

-Ramba Ral is a full Commander, then is busted down to Lieutenant for his refusal to participate in Operation British
-After reading the manga and from the original MSG intros, still wasn't totally prepared for the devastation of the Colony Drop
-Hamon doesn't age at all. Not that I'm complaining.
-The Black Tri-Stars continue to remind me of the "Squeal like a pig! Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" Hillbillies from Deliverance
-End of Club Eden, really sad.
-Sayla. Complete. Badass. Enough said.
-The Zeon Fleet numbers around 60 ships total, only saw a Chivvay or two about, but mostly all Musais. The Earth Federation numbers around 240, 60 in the Tianem Fleet, 180 in the Revil Fleet
-Smug M'quve face updated for modern times = Epic
-Still don't understand why they couldn't just deploy mobile suits from the main Zeon fleet, but maybe that's the deliberate part of the plan
-Char/Casval's Zaku reminds me of the Tallgeese from GW now, so powerful that only a select person can handle it
-I saw what may be cameos from Delaz (0083) and Reed (MSG)? If so, then awesome!

Speaking of seeing Origin V. Are they going to show it on GundamInfo? Since Daisuki is no longer going to be an option with it going under.

It's on Hulu.

"What did catch my eye, however, was a podcast named Gundamn!. At first I thought it was a podcast about firearms and [rednecks] discussing their collection, but after looking at the episode titles I was sold." - Xhavalor

One thing that I noticed in this movie (Origin: Clash at Loum ) was that the colony used during operation British was just sent to crash to Earth with no escort. In other versions of this (games like Journey to Jaburo, Zeonic Front, Ghiren's Greed) and even in the original tv series it shown that the Zeon fleets escort the colony all the way to Earth and engages the Federation fleet. I just wanted to see this because we all know the federation would fight like crazy to stop the colony. I also thought we would see the entire Battle of Loum with the federation and zeon destroying all of Side 5 in the process but we did not get that either!!!

One thing that I noticed in this movie (Origin: Clash at Loum ) was that the colony used during operation British was just sent to crash to Earth with no escort. In other versions of this (games like Journey to Jaburo, Zeonic Front, Ghiren's Greed) and even in the original tv series it shown that the Zeon fleets escort the colony all the way to Earth and engages the Federation fleet. I just wanted to see this because we all know the federation would fight like crazy to stop the colony. I also thought we would see the entire Battle of Loum with the federation and zeon destroying all of Side 5 in the process but we did not get that either!!!

Battle of Loum will be show in full in the next episode Birth of the Red Come or whatever it's called.

I am rather conflicted by this episode. The humor killed the atmosphere for me, and the character dilution continues with full force, and not even Hamon and Ramba Ral are enough to save it for me. Though Sayla comes darn close...

First off, the Zabis again. Garma is showing himself to be quite different from the man we see in MSG.That's fine. It shows how the war on Earth changes him. So that's good. His interactions with Degwin are also touching in a way, and interesting to see anything from the old Zabi.

Ghiren. Ok, so his character is being handled well, like with his youngest brother and father. Poor Degwin, though, didn't realize his own son was going to manipulate him so deftly, in his face, and get away with it. Omedetou!

His brilliance is scary. Not only did British go off without a hitch (I firmly believe Ghiren understood full well the colony could collapse during entry, in all liklihood. It would certainly have been a happy accidental Plan-B for British), it had so many layers, both strategically and politically.

Now, I have a question about the Zeon ships. I was very, very sure those green Musais (that's what they're called, right?) had SUPERIOR range to some or all EFS ships. But here we're told they're just more maneuverable and have inferior range. That... does not sound at all like what I remember reading.

Back to characters.

Poor Char. This entire Origin story is a systematic assassination of his character. The man literally has no other facial expressions aside from outraged magnificantbastard, cocky smirk, and leer of disdain. That's it. He has no personality outside of being in full-fledge Char Mode. To everyone. None of this fits at all with the man we see in Tomino's classic or sequels. This Origin version is just an anti-christ level psychopath. His quote at the end of this episode ruined the moment and was just plain offensive. For a man who spent his life the way we know he did, this just... is like satire at this stage. We have him shamelessly slaughter the people of the colony near Texas, and while that makes sense that he'd do this toChar's parents, I find it bizarre he'd go so far as to look down on Texas and make an off comment on Artesia. Origin Char does not care. About anything. But himself.

We're seeing the outside, surface personality shown in the main series, stripping him of the meat, skeleton and heart within that made Char Aznable one of the best fictional villains and characters of all time. Sad to say, but I just don't care for the next episode. I'd really rather they not meddle with it more than they already have. Though the MSG retelling might be better, from what I've seen.

As for Sayla, Hamon and Ral, at least they've got some golden moments. This story really is more about Sayla. We get her points of view, her trials, her suffering, and all that becomes of her. Where Char is a blank wall to us in terms of internal dialogue, Sayla is more or less open for us to read and understand. I don't mind, I guess, seeing how badly Char's side is handled. And Hamon, my gosh, was singing Ral's and her own epitaph. Their lives have been touching and a saving grace for this episode, and the series in general. She always was an interesting character from MSG, one who seemed to definitely have a story to tell. And it's gold, just like her swooning voice. It's a tragedy to realize they were both trapped from the start, long, long before they got shafted by M'Quve.

Hmm. Amuro's part of the story was descent. And is it just me, or are we to expect a growth spurt from him and Kai? His neck is rather thickly drawn, Amuro's. Makes me feel like the next nine or so months will see him at the gangly height his original design dictates.

Ok, so the battles. Aside from the moments leading up to Char's ill-gotten quote, which were probably the best pilot-view scenes from an MS cockpit ever rendered, the entire conflict side felt extremely underwhelming. I was desperate to see lots of Federation starfighters, which should be there, as well as a more lengthy extermination of Side 2. We're led to believe these Zeon just fired on all the colonies and blasted them apart? Really? Then how can those poor Zeon soldiers not realize what was being done? Cima's testimony seems to indicate there were indeed gassings, and all the implications of Zeta confirm that G3 was used more than just once, but enough to make it a sort of calling card.

As for the Colony Drop. I don't even... it was a footnote, essentially. The greatest calamity of modern UC history to date was rendered a footnote. There was no battle, which is a crime in my eyes, not to mention a tactical error. Explain to me why then, if an unmanned and unrpotected space colony can hit earth unimpeded, another colony drop could be prevented? Why not send two of the damn things? Why not ALL of them, Ghiren-sama? Especially with a whole damn be burned fleet floating right in front of it? Really? *Throws up hands* Sorry, but this is one reason why these classic scenes shouldn't be shown directly. MSG's very brief cutscenes to Operation British indicate there was a desperate battle to the literal last seconds, to death in fact, in order to see it succeed.

Instead, it appears a bumbling buffoon of a character (poor Dozzle hardly qualifies as one now, he's just a big ugly ogre of a running gag at this point) was easily manipulated by his psychopathic big brother with delusions of Stalinhood and Hitlirizmania. At least Ral had decided not to slaughter billions of souls. Anymore than he'd already had, supposedly.

These fight scenes highlight the humor issues. Characters mouths move funny now and again, purposefully have quirked faces, and display sheer humor at the wrong times. Not even One Piece retains its goofiness during scenes of the antagonist acting the part of a serious villain. It would be like Doflamingo being funny while he impales people as an afterthought, or Arlong being humorous while he discusses abusing a little slave girl.

At least the scenes from the Side 2 colonist couple were touching. I guess. The only scene that I'll really remember getting a chill from, though, was watching them coat the colony windows. That part was downright SCARY. It felt like something that could happen so easily in real life, and no one really understand what was the purpose behind it.

And it lasted far too short and focused far too much on a doomed couple. Maybe the WHOLE thing could have been avoided if they'd not given each other the Tomino-approved Kiss of Death.